


restless, longing for some solitary company

by zenexit



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drinking, M/M, Modern Era, art student deidara, bar au, everyone but deidara and sasori are just mentioned in passing / have super small interactions, i think like hidan is the most relevant of all of them, i will populate this tag by myself, sorry if you're like a super big chiyo fan or smth, theyre all stupid college kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 20:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11562753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenexit/pseuds/zenexit
Summary: Everything that could have gone wrong that day, sure has hell already had.





	restless, longing for some solitary company

**Author's Note:**

> commission for my pal cal! 
> 
> big thank you to my friend kc who helped me flesh out this better in a subway while i thought about what to write for her fiance
> 
> honestly i love sasadei and i dont understand why its not more popular??? i will write infinite fic for them honestly
> 
> im super in love with this universe and im super tempted to make this into a collection of works possibly?? with other akatsuki members?? and ships that i like for them???
> 
> and yes. this title is from toto's africa. i lovingly called this fic in my google docs "deidara get your life together"

Everything that could have gone wrong that day, sure has hell already had.

If Deidara took a moment to wonder if maybe fate was against him today, the answer would surely be yes.

The day had started off fine. A beautiful morning, only a few soft puffy clouds in sight. The air was nice, not too humid, but a nice soft breeze to take the heat off. But then, going to Starbucks, Deidara had dumped his entire hot white chocolate mocha all over his entire clean body. It had taken an armful of napkins and impatient dabs all over his now sweaty burnt body to get the majority of the coffee off. Which of course, still wasn’t in his tired body. Next he had to wrestle with whatever barista he could get his hands on to ask for another drink, not even caring at this point if he had to buy another drink. Which of course had turned into him getting a drink that had whipped cream on it, that he had to guiltily peel off with a spoon.

Going to class meant death next, as it was critique day. Deidara had learned long ago his professors and peers didn’t actually understand what art was, and was fighting a losing battle every time he had to go up to be judged. Which, first of all, didn’t feel beneficial to his personal artistic process whatsoever. A room filled with assholes who knew nothing about anything didn’t help Deidara in any way, but he did like getting those credits so his financial aid would keep buying his meals.

Critique, of course, didn’t go well. It never did. This time, Deidara was twice as stained as usual. The blonde had worked hard on his painting, giving it layers and textures that were completely not required, but he had felt would add to his piece. His instructor, sighing loudly, had just made note on his paper not even bothering to voice he shouldn’t have done that yet. The class had twice as many questions for Deidara than they did for each other, knowing that Deidara loved to rip their own art open. They were brutal monsters out for blood. Deidara wanted every single one of them to fuck right off. 

Moving from his first morning class onto his next two, Deidara kept feeling more and more of his shitty soul leaving his coffee covered body. By the time he was done for the day, he firmly was ready to go home and die. Walking out to the parking lot, his large portfolio draped across his shoulder, the rain began to fall. Deidara cursed loudly and rushed to his car before eating face on the ground. 

Luckily his hands moved faster, reaching out to catch him, stopping Deidara’s face from colliding with the pavement. They stung like hell, but scabs on his palms would be better than on his face. The weight of his portfolio swung around his body, causing him to fall onto his side from the weight change. Deidara let out an angry yell, frustrated with the entire situation. 

Yelling curses, the blonde stood up and did his best to shake off his cursed portfolio. He hadn’t zipped the damn thing closed, using it still to hold the papers along with his newest painting he had analyzed today. Continuing in his angry rampage, Deidara ripped the canvas out of the bag without thinking and threw it on the rain soaked pavement. He hastily unlocked his doors electronically and threw his portfolio in the car, watching the wet case from hell bounce before falling behind the passenger seat. For the added drama it all, and to sate a compulsion Deidara didn’t want to fight off quickly turned around and picked up his painting. Without hesitation Deidara kicked a hole straight through the center of it, yelling loudly. 

Repeating more small curses to himself, Deidara left it in the parking lot again, right behind where his wheel ended. Getting inside of his car, starting it, Deidara gleefully backed up over his panting. And then pulled forward. And then backed over it again. The joy it brought to him to completely destroy something he had worked so hard on was overwhelming, completely eliminating the stress the rain had caused when it had attacked it. If anything was going to destroy his work, it was going to be him. Not nature. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deidara had gone straight home after that, raiding his fridge for anything alcoholic. He didn’t have anything he wanted to work on tonight, and he was going to have a good time god damn it. Working his way through two entire trays of bagel bites, Deidara pulled out the jug of mixed alcohol his roommate had left over from a party the other night. How Itachi always managed to bring home so much from parties was astonishing. Especially when he had bugged to make Deidara to make it for him, so that way people could actually enjoy it. Itachi had no goddamn taste buds. 

Downing two large glasses of the red drink, Deidara moved onto vodka. And then tequilla. He was drinking like it was the end of the world, and a doctor was coming to saw his legs off.*

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deidara had managed to drag his ass out of his dorm, getting an uber for the second nearest bar he could find. Not the first, because he didn’t want to see a goddamn soul from that art class tonight. Deidara wasn’t sure he wouldn’t try to rip any of them a new asshole with his words by the end of the night otherwise. He had a lot to say, dramatically inclined or not. But then again, what art student wasn’t?

The second nearest bar he could find was some place called “The Bunraku Bar” which Deidara decided, in his wasted mindset, sounded fucking adorable. He had high hopes of blowing the establishment away by his winning looks and not going home alone. However, Deidara also couldn’t feel his legs entirely. His body felt warmer and heavier than normal, brain fuzzy. It was a sure sign he was feeling the alcohol, making him feel way better than he had earlier. It would be easy to forget about the stressors of a class he was too qualified to be in.

The outside out of the bar was a classic Japanese theme combined with modernism. There was a small garden off to the left side with tall growing plants. Several benches lined the outside framing the dark wooden doors, lights above them. There were a few lanterns as well, kanji on them saying something Deidara’s drunk mind couldn’t even begin to think to ponder. 

Deidara cracked his back after getting out of the car and took out his phone, checking out his reflection quickly. His hair took a few moments to fix, pushing stray hairs back into place. It was his classic look, a high blonde ponytail combined with long hair. Deidara hadn’t changed his makeup from earlier, but he had fixed the smudges beneath his eyes in the uber over. Deidara made a few faces at his reflection, thinking to check his teeth for something nasty before going inside. 

Opening the door Deidara was greeted by low hanging lights in the entryway. It was nothing all that grand, but the lanterns were really quite pretty. The entire place was themed with a dark wood. A long bar spread out, a large multitude of bottles behind it. Near the bar were a large count of seats, lots of them filled. It was a busy night, Deidara noted. But then again, it was a friday night. There were more dark tables throughout the bar, lined up neatly. Most of them had more people seated. Deidara didn’t have the brainpower to note he was already more drunk than most of the assholes here. 

Walking up to the counter, Deidara gave a large bright smile to the bartender closest to him. She had dark purple hair and a piercing right beneath her full lip, eyeliner more subtle than Deidara’s but beautiful all the same. She was stunning.

“Hey, how are you doing tonight?” Deidara said, all teeth.

“Well, what can I get for you tonight?” The bartender asked calmly, her eyes looking Deidara up and down once before holding eye contact with him. He glanced down and read her nametag then, or at least tried to. It was in one of those chalk markers on a black background and his eyes wouldn’t focus quite right. Konan? Koran? Kody? Something like that. 

“What do you like, beautiful? I’ll have two of them.” He pulled a card out of his pocket and slid it across the table. She didn’t even bother to blink at him as a response, turning around to start mixing a drink for him. If Deidara had been thinking on it more, he wouldn’t have been surprised. She was probably hit on all the time. 

Another bartender leaned over during the transaction, yelling to the girl to figure out what Deidara had ordered so he could ring him up for it and to ask her to add a few more drinks to her order. Deidara didn’t let it get to him, so he wouldn’t get to talk to the pretty girl as much. He was handed a receipt he hastily signed, and then passed two drinks man with slicked back hair. 

Deidara took his drinks to an open table, not thinking that he should try to pass one of these back to Konan like he had first thought. She was out of sight and now out of mind. Deidara took a seat towards the back, facing the rest of the bar. A lot of people here had come with friends, and he scowled. He was completely alone, again.

Deidara let his blue eyes follow around the bar lazily, taking everyone and everything in as he went. People were laughing, having a good time. There were the two bartenders that he had seen before, working together to take care of everyone easily. Konan was easily the quieter of the two, not smiling at any customers, just going straight to work. The man however, was her complete opposite. He was laughing and yelling the entire time, expressing everything he felt with body emotes the entire time. It was annoying. 

Deidara looked back out at the tables then, watching as two bussers were making their ways around the room. They were checking tables to make sure everyone had what they wanted, to help clean up trash and get things out of their way. One was a taller man with dark hair, and Deidara noticed he was surprisingly well built. Muscles clearly discernable under his dark shirt.

The other busser was shorter, striking red hair as they moved around the bar. Deidara wasn’t sure from this distance if it was a young woman or a young man, but he found himself swallowing all the same. Eyes that looked that beautiful didn’t exist, especially at this distance. Without looking away, Deidara hastily swallowed all of his first drink, forcing it down. The buzz was still here, his body swaying slightly in his seat. Deidara had no idea how wasted he was at this point. 

“Heyyyyy,” Deidara said, all smiles again and waving his hand at the redhead who had moved closer across the bar, getting to tables nearer to Deidara.

They looked up, squinting for a moment at Deidara as if processing what they wanted to do. 

“Can I help you?” A tired sounding voice asked, as the redhead came closer. Male, absolutely male, Deidara decided. But god, did he have such beautiful eyelashes. Not that it mattered, male or female or something else, this person was absolutely the most beautiful person Deidara had ever seen.

Now much closer, Deidara could appreciate all the small pieces of the man’s face he couldn’t see before. He seemed tired, small bags under his eyes. His eyes were brown? Grey? An amber color? Deidara wasn’t sure, and his brain wasn’t supplying anything better for a decision. His face didn’t look like he had added anything to make his eyelashes that long and dark and beautiful, and Deidara couldn’t help but trust that the angel in front of him was really just this beautiful naturally.

His face was almost childlike, it had a very youthful quality to it. But, Deidara knew there couldn’t be someone under age working in this bar. He had to be at least eighteen, and even then he was probably twenty one at a minimum. He had thin eyebrows and a mouth Deidara was wished was pulled up into a smile when looking at him, instead of the frown he was seeing.

“You’re beautiful, can I interest you in a drink?” Deidara asked, words coming out quickly. 

Deidara was sure this man could probably hear his heart beating in his chest, could hear the symphonies playing in his head just looking at him.

“No thank you. How much have you had to drink tonight, sir?” The man asked, looking even more tired than before. His eyes were squinted slightly again, as he look Deidara up and down the way the woman before had. He took in the empty drink in front of him, and the full one in his hand. 

“Oh don’t worry about that, I had plenty before I came here.” Deidara said with a laugh, misunderstanding the question. He did want more though…

Deidara put his chin in his hand, trying to read the nametag the man was wearing. This one didn’t seem like it was written in one of those chalk pens, but rather a sharpie. It was still written on the same black background though, and Deidara really wished he could see what it said.

“Can I get  _ you _ a drink?” The redhead asked, holding his tray of dirty dishes of to the side of his hip.

Deidara smiled even more brightly at that and laughed loudly. His face wasn’t red, or at least he hoped it wasn’t.

“Yeah of course you can, sweetheart.” Deidara said, trying to wink at the redhead in front of him.

“Alright. It’s going to be water.” The man said without hesitation, he didn’t move his eyes from Deidara’s. Deidara laughed again in response. Oh so it was going to be  _ water _ .

“Yeah? Water? Sure, go ahead and get me some  _ water _ .” Deidara said happily.

The busser didn’t hesitate, turning around and making his way to the back of house behind the bar. For the moment he was able to, Deidara enjoyed the vision he was given of the other’s backside. It was a cute ass, he wasn’t disappointed. Deidara assumed he was dumping his dishes back there, and was happy to see him come back out and grab something from behind the bar, filling a cup with it. He brought it back to Deidara quickly, not stopping at any other tables along the way.

“Here.” The man said simply.

“Thanks, beautiful.” Deidara said trying to wink again. Swallowing quickly, Deidara spat out the drink instantly. The drink didn’t land on the busser, but rather in the air off to the side of him. For Deidara’s own sake, it was good his spit take hadn’t hit anyone in the bar.

“What the hell is this?!” Deidara yelled, looking at his cup and bringing his eyebrows together. “Is this really just fucking water?”

The redhead might have smirked at that, for just a moment, and Deidara’s heart felt like it was soaring. But as soon at the smile was there, it was gone.

“Yes, it’s really just water. What did you think it would be?” He asked.

“I don’t know, anything but real water. Like, vodka or something?” Deidara said with a loud sigh. He wasn’t feeling so good suddenly… Maybe he should actually take a drink of the water.

“Just drink it. It’s not going to hurt you, no one wants you to die here.”

Deidara took a hesitant swallow of the water this time, half believing it was going to turn into something else in that moment. It really was just water though, as far as he could tell. Although, it was incredibly unlikely someone working at this bar was going to try to slip something into his drink.

“Where’s your bathroom?” Deidara asked, without thinking about why he was asking. The man frowned.

“Behind you, down the hall to the right.” He said quietly. 

Deidara was pretty sure he nodded in response, and headed down the hall to puke up half of what was left in his stomach.

When he came back to the table he didn’t feel any more sober than when he had left, just about five times grosser. He had cleaned himself up in the bathroom and everything.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning Sasori wasn’t the first opener there. Most of the employees at Bunraku owned a set themselves. It had been Granny Chiyo’s policy since opening if she didn’t trust someone enough to have the keys to the door, they weren’t going to be allowed to serve in her bar. The majority of people who worked there went to the college nearby, this just helped to get them a few extra dollars in their downtime between classes.

For Sasori, it was the bar his family owned. It meant something to him. He didn’t want to waste his life away working for it, or even inherit some big business he was going to die in but, he did have a few memories here with his family he didn’t want to have to part with. Especially with how it would probably just be lost to some big property buy up, get made into some strip mall or something. Disgusting.

Last night had been a particularly busy night, everyone excited to be out of class for the week had come in. It was a combination as always of people who were looking to start their drinking here, and those just out for a good night with their friends. The two were totally different types in what they were going to order, and how rowdy they were going to be. Sasori had a short patience for people at best, and that had been tested again and again recently. Hidan was jump away from getting his ass fired, the incident last week where he had lunged across a man at the bar had damn well be his last.

There were fights at every bar, that was unavoidable. But for some reason, people seemed to look at Bunraku as the perfect place to throw hands with every ex lover and new man possible, and Sasori wanted to hang all of them. They weren’t too far from too many incidents in the past quarter violating their lease and losing the whole place. Because of this Chiyo had told all of them to watch how they talked to and treated guests, making sure they were extra patient with people. To make sure they were able to get home, instead of getting into crashes in their damn parking lot. Which of course, they had been trying to do before, but now they had a budget set aside to actually act on. There was a no fight whatsoever policy, even if you got into an argument you would be asked to leave. Although it was a bar, they weren’t going to just try to get everyone and their mothers as wasted as possible.

That blonde asshole had been one of Sasori’s big patience testers. He was so needy all night. If Sasori had left him for too long he started complaining to anyone around him. Other employees, other customers, or sometimes just the damn air. Whatever bad day he had been having Sasori didn’t want to hear about, but now he sure had to. Sasori was sure that Obito wanted to have his neck after last night. It quickly had become one of their busiest nights, and he wasn’t helping him bus at all by the end of the night. Instead he was in charge of making sure this dude didn’t drink himself to death, and if he did die was at least going to be across the street when he did it. Who the hell was he trying to up, showing to a bar already wasted? 

But, by the end of it, Sasori had gotten him home safe and sound. Despite wanting to admit it, having taken care of him all night he had gotten almost invested. He knew all about his day then, his major, his last two relationships. He wasn’t a bad person, just way louder than Sasori wanted to deal with at work. But maybe some other time, if they had met some other place, Sasori would have been tempted to take him out to dinner. Maybe. 

Sasori had watched the uber car drop Deidara safe and sound off on the map last night, and he had forced himself to stop thinking about him then. 

Today was a new day, and Sasori sighed when he opened the door to go back to work. They weren’t going to need this large of a staff until later that night, but he had promised his grandma he would come in and help them clean up from last night's mess.

Hidan was there was well, singing to himself while cleaning down all the tables. Sasori greeted him coming in, appreciating silently his dedication to showing he wanted to keep this job. As far as he knew it was just going to be them cleaning up this morning, thank god. He didn’t want to have to listen to Obito chew him out this early. 

Hidan looked up from the table he was cleaning. It was laying on the ground, one rag in his hand the other on his shoulder leaving a large wet mark. He smirked and laughed a bit.

“Hey man, how’d you sleep?” He asked loudly. Before Sasori could say anything, the phone went off. Confused he turned to where it was on the wall. No one should be calling them this early, it wasn’t like they catered or anything.

Hidan gestured a thumb at the phone from his spot.

“That’s been going off. Went off about an hour and a half ago, someone asking when we would open.” Hidan shrugged. “A bunch of fucking dumbasses, just drink at home if you wanna get drunk at noon.” 

Sasori moved to pick up the phone but caught it at the last second, picking up to just a dial tone. He sighed loudly, Hidan probably hadn’t asked who was calling. For all Sasori knew it was some cop who was trying to figure out when to come and question them about someone who had gone home and died. And was probably blonde.

Sasori looked over to where Hidan was cleaning again, going right back into some loud song. He was right by a window, and as he watched, he saw someone walk quickly by it. Sasori frowned, trying to convince himself the blonde hair he had seen was a total coincidence. There was no way that guy could be up and back here this early.

The bell tinkled softly on the door as it was swung open, and Deidara walked in. He was wearing sunglasses and had in his hands a cardboard carrying tray with two drinks.

“Helloooo” He called out happily, putting the drinks on the bar counter without hesitation. Sasori wasn’t sure if he should laugh or call the police. Hidan decided on the first and Sasori took that chance to turn right the fuck around and try to disappear in back of house.

No no no no no, that guy was not back. He was not doing this. It was way too fucking early for this shit.

“You need something man? We’re not open yet.” Hidan said after he was done laughing. Sasori couldn’t see anything from where he was, but he could hear everything perfectly. He hoped Hidan had stood up, he was way bigger than. More likely to scare this ass off if he was standing up.

“I’m just looking to bring coffee to the girl who took care of me last night.” Deidara said, almost smugly. Sasori wondered why someone hadn’t wired his mouth shut yet, and he had just met him.

“Girl? You got the right spot?” Hidan asked.

Okay that wasn’t totally fair, they had Konan too, and of course Chiyo. Sasori knew that Hidan knew that… so what was he getting on about…?

“Oh I know I am, this place is totally adorable I wouldn’t forget it.” Deidara laughed after that. “She was beautiful, easily a model if she wanted to be.”

“Oh yeah, a model? What did she look like?” Hidan was edging him on now, and Sasori had a sinking feeling what Deidara was going to say. Sasori really really  _ really  _ wanted to die right now. He would pay real legal human dollars to anyone if they would come stab him right now.

“Short red hair, the most gorgeous eyes you could ever imagine. Made sure I got home last night.” Deidara said, sounding happier than Sasori had heard him before. Was he… being sweet? Was he serious right now? Sasori had done the bare minimum a human could do, and he didn’t even want to be there, and this guy was eating him up. Oh, and he also thought he was a woman.

“Red hair?” Hidan paused and Sasori could imagine he was trying to hold in a laugh. What a bag of dicks. “We only got a dude with red hair, name’s Sasori, that sound right?”

“I didn’t catch the angels name.” Deidara said, scoffing loudly. 

_ Angel. _

Oh my god.

He was so wrong, he was so fucking wrong.

Sasori didn’t know how much more of this he could take, and came back outside from back of house. He didn’t even bother trying to look like he was busy back there, he wasn’t going to pull any punches with this asshole.

When Sasori came out, eyes that would probably never leave his mind bored into him. They were the brightest blue possible, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were contacts. Who knows, that didn’t matter right now. He had to clean his mind.

“Can I help you?” Sasori asked flatly, crossing his arms.

Deidara smirked back in response, and Sasori was half tempted to slap it off of his face.

“I brought you coffee.” Deidara said, gesturing to the drinks. 

Hidan was just watching at this point, maybe trying to decide what he should do. It didn’t seem like Sasori needed his help right now, but it was probably good for him to stand there and wait and see.

“I can see that. What if I was lactose intolerant?” Sasori asked. He wasn’t lying, but all in all he didn’t want to drink that coffee.

“Soy milk for both, just in case.” Deidara said, pulling one of the drinks out of the carrier. “I went ahead and just got you a vanilla latte, can’t really go wrong with that.” He walked over to Sasori and extended it towards him, looking like for a moment he didn’t doubt the other would take it from him.

Sasori paused to take in the situation. Deidara looked a lot differently than he had last night. It turned out his makeup did have a golden hour, and looked much better in the daylight. Sasori didn’t know a lot about the world of makeup, but it really seemed like this man did. He was much cleaner looking, wearing a long black button up jacket with a folded collar. Tight pants underneath,  _ really we’re still doing skinny jeans _ ? There was a large black portfolio on his shoulders still. All in all, he looked like the art student Sasori knew he was. But, a lot cleaner of an art student than the one he had seen last night.

Deidara honestly looked… Handsome. 

Sasori sighed and took the cup in front of him. He still wasn’t sure if he was going to drink it when Deidara was gone, but it was easier to just accept it instead of fighting him on it. 

“So, Sasori huh….? That’s a nice name.” Deidara said, trying to fill the void where a thank you should have been.

“Mmmm.” Sasori responded, not looking away from Deidara’s eyes. He wasn’t going to give him anything he didn’t have to in this conversation. He wasn’t that interesting of a person, in fact talking to people was on his list of least favorite activities. He doubted Deidara felt the same. 

Without thinking, before Deidara could say whatever he was opening his mouth to do, Sasori said,

“If I give you my number will you leave and let me open this store?”

Hidan snickered then and went back to his work, sitting back down on the floor. Sasori felt like he should make a mental countdown before he started singing in german again. 

Deidara blinked, looking startled. He didn’t think it was going to be that easy. Well. Neither did Sasori. 

Sasori stuck out his hand then, for Deidara’s phone. The blonde, seemingly still surprised, handed it to him without a word. Sasori opened it and dialed his number quickly, showing the other how his phone was ringing out from his pocket. It gave Sasori Deidara’s number then, so he would know who was texting him.

Sasori quickly saved his name in it and handed it back. He still wasn’t quite sure why he was letting this happen. 

“Don’t say anything or I’ll change my mind.” Sasori said honestly.

Deidara looked up and smirked, and laughed a little bit.

“Haha alright whatever you say. I’ll talk to you later.” Deidara did a much more successful wink than all the others he had been doing last night. Sasori almost thought it looked cute.

“Alright.” Sasori said dryly. Deidara left soon after, and Hidan broke back out into song like nothing had happened. When Sasori looked down at his phone, he could see his group chat was filled with messages from Hidan to Obito and Konan.

Great.

**Author's Note:**

> * ---- a quote from John Mulaney's hit stand up comedy routine "New In Town" you can find it on netflix or just by searching like almost any character from dangan ronpa on youtube lol


End file.
